Running a Closure Test
In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to perform a closure test using Colibri. We will do so by performing a closure test with the Les Houches parametrisation model, which was implemented in this tutorial.
Step 1: enable the executable
The first step is to enable the executable for this model.
In your colibri-dev
conda environment, go to the les_houches_example
directory, found in:
cd colibri/examples/les_houches_example
Then run:
pip install -e .
This will enable an executable called les_houches_exe
.
Step 2: runcard
In the colibri/examples/les_houches_example/runcards
directory you will find
an example runcard called lh_fit_closure_test.yaml
, which looks like this:
meta: 'An example fit using Colibri, reduced DIS dataset.'
#######################
# Data and theory specs
#######################
dataset_inputs:
# DIS
- {dataset: SLAC_NC_NOTFIXED_P_EM-F2, variant: legacy_dw}
- {dataset: SLAC_NC_NOTFIXED_D_EM-F2, variant: legacy_dw}
- {dataset: BCDMS_NC_NOTFIXED_P_EM-F2, variant: legacy_dw}
- {dataset: BCDMS_NC_NOTFIXED_D_EM-F2, variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: CHORUS_CC_NOTFIXED_PB_NU-SIGMARED, variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: CHORUS_CC_NOTFIXED_PB_NB-SIGMARED, variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: NUTEV_CC_NOTFIXED_FE_NU-SIGMARED, cfac: [MAS], variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: NUTEV_CC_NOTFIXED_FE_NB-SIGMARED, cfac: [MAS], variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_318GEV_EM-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_225GEV_EP-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_251GEV_EP-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_300GEV_EP-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_318GEV_EP-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_CC_318GEV_EM-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_CC_318GEV_EP-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_318GEV_EAVG_CHARM-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: HERA_NC_318GEV_EAVG_BOTTOM-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
# - {dataset: NMC_NC_NOTFIXED_EM-F2, variant: legacy_dw}
# - {dataset: NMC_NC_NOTFIXED_P_EM-SIGMARED, variant: legacy}
theoryid: 40000000 # The theory from which the predictions are drawn.
use_cuts: internal # The kinematic cuts to be applied to the data.
closure_test_level: 0 # The closure test level: False for experimental, level 0
# for pseudodata with no noise, level 1 for pseudodata with
# noise.
closure_test_pdf: LH_PARAM_20250519 # The closure test PDF used if closure_test_level is not False
#####################
# Loss function specs
#####################
positivity: # Positivity datasets, used in the positivity penalty.
posdatasets:
- {dataset: NNPDF_POS_2P24GEV_F2U, variant: None, maxlambda: 1e6}
positivity_penalty_settings:
positivity_penalty: false
alpha: 1e-7
lambda_positivity: 0
# Integrability Settings
integrability_settings:
integrability: False
use_fit_t0: True # Whether the t0 covariance is used in the chi2 loss.
t0pdfset: NNPDF40_nnlo_as_01180 # The t0 PDF used to build the t0 covariance matrix.
###################
# Methodology specs
###################
prior_settings:
prior_distribution: uniform_parameter_prior
prior_distribution_specs:
bounds:
alpha_gluon: [-0.1, 1]
beta_gluon: [9, 13]
alpha_up: [0.4, 0.9]
beta_up: [3, 4.5]
epsilon_up: [-3, 3]
gamma_up: [1, 6]
alpha_down: [1, 2]
beta_down: [8, 12]
epsilon_down: [-4.5, -3]
gamma_down: [3.8, 5.8]
norm_sigma: [0.1, 0.5]
alpha_sigma: [-0.2, 0.1]
beta_sigma: [1.2, 3]
# Nested Sampling settings
ns_settings:
sampler_plot: true
n_posterior_samples: 100 # Number of posterior samples generated.
ReactiveNS_settings:
vectorized: False
ndraw_max: 500 # Maximum number of points to simultaneously propose.
Run_settings:
min_num_live_points: 200 # Minimum number of live points throughout the run.
min_ess: 50 # Target number of effective posterior samples.
frac_remain: 0.3 # Integrate until this fraction of the integral is left in the remainder.
SliceSampler_settings:
nsteps: 106 # number of accepted steps until the sample is considered independent.
actions_:
- run_ultranest_fit # Choose from ultranest_fit, monte_carlo_fit, analytic_fit
Points to note:
Underlying law: We will be using the PDF grid
LH_PARAM_20250519
, which has been produced by computing the relevant PDFs for the Les Houches model with the best-fit values for the parameters, taken from Ref. [A+05].Fitting method: By choosing the action
run_ultranest_fit
, we are running a bayesian fit. (You can read more about how to run a bayesian fit in this tutorial.) If you instead want to perform a closure test with the monte carlo replica method, you can find out how to do in this tutorial.Closure test level: To run a Level 1 closure test with this runcard, you can simply change
closure_test_level: 0
to1
. To run a model-specific closure, test, see this section.
Step 3: producing the fit
To produce the fit, run the following command from the colibri/les_houches_example
directory:
les_houches_exe runcards/lh_fit_closure_test.yaml
This step will download the PDF grid LH_PARAM_20250519
.
If you don’t have it already, it will also download the theory 40000000
.
After you run the fit the first time, any subsequent fits should be faster.
A directory called lh_fit_closure_test
, containing the output of the fit,
should have been created. You can read more about the fit folders
here.
3.1 Evolving the fit
If you don’t already have it, you will need to download the EKO corresponding to the theory used in this tutorial [CHM22b], [CHM22a]:
vp-get EKO 40000000
You can then evolve the fit by running the following command from the
les_houches_example
directory:
evolve_fit lh_fit_closure_test
You can read more about evolution in this section.
3.2 Generating a validphys
report
Finally, you can run:
validphys plot_pdf_fits.yaml
to generate a validphys report [ZCw+25].
The result
As an example, we show the result of the fit for the gluon PDF.

The orange line, labelled LH theory PDF, shows the gluon PDF used to generate the pseudo-data, i.e. the underlying law we are trying to recover. As mentioned above, this was computed using the best-fit values for each parameter, as presented in Ref. [A+05]. The green curve/section, labelled Les Houches fit 68% c.i. + 1\(\sigma\), shows the result of the closure test fit with error band.